Nina Ruscio, the production designer for the Max drama “The Pitt,” carefully crafted a set to realistically portray an emergency room. She aimed to avoid creating scenes that might distract viewers or contain inaccuracies, explaining, “If anything took you out of the immersive experience of the show, it would’ve been our fault.” To ensure precision, she was meticulous in her approach.
THE GROUNDWORK
During her work on another project, Ruscio was tasked with creating the preliminary design for “The Pitt”. Remarkably, she sketched out this blueprint even before a script had been penned during her holiday break. Later, the screenwriters utilized it as inspiration to develop various storylines. As Ruscio puts it, “From the very beginning, characters were assigned to every nook and cranny of my layout.” Four months later, she officially joined the team. Since “The Pitt” is set in a single location for 15 episodes, Ruscio designed a flexible set that would avoid dead ends. To ensure a sense of continuous flow, she opted for a curved hallway design, allowing characters to constantly return to their starting points.
REAL-DEAL GEAR
Approximately 90% of the medical equipment featured in the series wasn’t leased but bought outright. One such authentic piece is the trauma tower – a robust, suspended structure designed to hold essential equipment for critically ill patients without encroaching on valuable ER space. This specific trauma tower was sourced from Canada and weighed around 2,000 pounds; it had to be securely fastened atop the stage to manage its significant torque of 6,000 pounds. The trauma tower’s surroundings are kept in a sterile, bleached color scheme, as explained by Ruscio, “It’s a bleached palette because most hospital experiences are sterile like that.
CEILING AS CANVAS
In the set design, Ruscio incorporated distinctive architectural features typical of Pittsburgh buildings, such as the marble columns in this image, to make it feel authentic. She additionally experimented with the ceiling layout, stating that its intricate geometry creates a sense of movement and excitement. “The ceiling isn’t just straight lines,” she clarifies, “and that was purposeful.” Ruscio opted to position lighting not on the floor but rather within the ceiling to enhance the “clinical” atmosphere often associated with an actual ER.
A “LONG CHECKLIST”
Prior to starting the project, Ruscio informed her team, “We will decide on the floor, the color scheme, and the ceiling. These decisions will be our permanent ones.” Every aspect, from the pods to the nurses’ hub, was custom-made and constructed. Ruscio explored various hospitals and conducted hospital industrial design research to understand what makes such a space effective. As she explains, “I had an extensive list of essential requirements.
THE SUPER GRID
In just ten weeks, an emergency room was constructed, one fire lane to another, on a 24,000-square-foot site. Atop this structure, known as “the Super Grid,” is a wooden substructure supporting the set’s ceiling. Ruscio designed these ceilings to create a sense of claustrophobia, mimicking the confined atmosphere of a real ER. The layout also facilitates smooth movement, allowing handheld cameras to capture footage that resembles a documentary style rather than a typical narrative series, according to Ruscio. Meanwhile, separate stages were utilized for building the waiting room and the staircase leading to administrative offices.
This tale was initially published in a special June edition of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. If you’d like to get the magazine delivered to you, you can subscribe by clicking [here](link_to_subscription).
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2025-06-13 22:25